Actor and comedian Rowan Atkinson is one of the most acclaimed British performers of his generation.
His popular comedy series, Mr Bean, and Johnny English, as well as his memorable cameos in Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually, continue to entertain millions of people around the world to this day.
Rowan Atkinson is here today for a flash interview about his career achievements and which one of his pieces of work he enjoys the most.
Blackadder – 1983-1989 sitcom
Rowan, what achievements are you most proud of?
Ummm…. one must know that pride is one of the seven deadly sins, so one shouldn’t exhibit pride in anything… I don’t know… what do I get pride and satisfaction from? I can’t think of anything I’m absolutely proud of. If I’ve done some jokes that people have liked, then that is pleasing and satisfying. I think probably the thing that I enjoyed in the show, the franchise, the brand or whatever you want to call it, the thing that I found the least stressful might be Blackadder, the sitcom I did in the 1980s. That was good because of this feeling of shared responsibility among a lot of really good actors.
Mr Bean – 1990-1950 sitcom
How about Mr Bean?
Well, with Mr Bean, it’s a very singular thing you do. I do feel the stress and responsibility of being not only the principal performer but the principal performer by quite a margin, so you do feel it all on your shoulders, and it weighs heavily. But with Blackadder, I’ve always felt like a sort of master of ceremonies to be very funny for two-and-a-half minutes while Tony Robbins is Baldrick and Stephen Fry is Melchett, so every day there was this lovely feeling of shared responsibility. So when things went right, we all took the credit. And when things went wrong – you know, nobody took the blame. It’s like politics.
Blackadder has aged incredibly well, and people still enjoy it all over the world to this day…
Yes, I have been surprised by the longevity of it, and I think, I guess, an awful lot of it it’s because it’s all set in historical periods, so there’s nothing up-to-date about it. It’s an 18th-century sitcom, you look at the sofas and the wallpapers and you think “Oh, it’s not our time”, whereas if you’re looking at something in the 18th century, you think “That’s how I expected it to be”, so I think the historical period has helped us. And when I am told that children are still discovering it and enjoying it up to this time, I think that’s great, that is good to know.